What exactly would "move" mean in a computer memory context? We move
physical objects: they cease to occupy one space and instead occupy
another. But a computer memory holds information. You can no more move data
in memory from one place to another than you can move knowledge from my
head to yours. You get a copy; I still have the original. I suppose for
some security purpose a machine might implement "copy and clear": kind of
like an MVC plus an XC on the source location. You could argue that was a
move.
You can "move" a disk file in that the space it formerly occupied becomes
unallocated, just like a shelf becomes free if you move a stack of books
from one shelf to another. IEHMOVE moves datasets.
Another word -- kind of COBOL related -- that our industry uses with a
meaning different from English is SORT. In English "sort" means to put into
appropriate sub-groups: sort the forks and spoons into their drawers. What
we mean by SORT in English is order: have the children line up ordered by
height; order the files alphabetically.
Charles
-----Original Message-----
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On
Behalf Of Tony Thigpen
Sent: Saturday, July 18, 2020 11:21 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: COBOL and English was Re: Still COBOL After All These Years?
The only "destructive move" I have been able to find (i.e, a real move,
not a copy) based on one real response, is in C (and derivatives) that
is not really what we are talking about.
It's move of a "change the pointer to the variable and drop the original
storage" type of thing. And, it's a function, not a verb. And, it
relates more to what happens to intermediate fields as they are used by
C and not programmer variables.
Bob, I understand your confusion, because I agree with you. Such a
language does not really exist. The excuse of "mv" vs. "cp" in linux is
not a valid example as those are file management commands, not data
manipulation verbs as used in programming languages.
And, to get back to the original statement by someone that Cobol is not
English because of the use of MOVE instead of COPY is just silly.
Tony Thigpen
Bob Bridges wrote on 7/18/20 10:51 AM:
You may have done so - by now I don't remember who said what first :) -
but I was referring to Mr Crayford's post below. As I understood them,
Tony Thigpen wrote that a MOVE is actually a copy, and Mr Crayford
disagreed. I'm confused; is there any computer language in which the verb
MOVE exists and doesn't actually mean COPY?
...or SET, as you suggest. Yes, I like SET better.
---
Bob Bridges, robhbrid...@gmail.com, cell 336 382-7313
/* In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question
mark on the things you have long taken for granted. -Bertrand Russell
(1872-1970) */
-----Original Message-----
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU]
On Behalf Of Wayne Bickerdike
Sent: Saturday, July 18, 2020 04:42
I referred to this since someone said that COBOL is English like. As such
the language is wrong because it does not describe correctly in English
what happens. COPY, REPLICATE, PROPAGATE would all be more precise
English.
IDEAL(CA/Broadcom) has MOVE and SET. They do the same thing. Which do
you
prefer:
MOVE A TO B or
SET B = A ?
--- On Sat, Jul 18, 2020 at 4:30 PM Bob Bridges <robhbrid...@gmail.com>
wrote:
Am I missing something obvious, here? In what computer language(s) is a
move not actually a copy? And how?
-----Original Message-----
From: David Crayford
Sent: Friday, July 17, 2020 00:53
I beg to differ! For the programming languages I code in use there is a
huge difference between copy and move semantics.
--- On 2020-07-17 11:12 AM, Tony Thigpen wrote:
From the start, MOVE in the programming world has been equated to what
you are calling a COPY.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
----------------------------------------------------------------------
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
----------------------------------------------------------------------
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
